


repairing what isn't broken (yet)

by jdphoenix



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Episode: s01e09 Repairs, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“From where I’m standing,” he says slowly, “there are two options. One is that I’ve finally gone insane and this is all a hallucination. Or, it’s not 2015 yet.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	repairing what isn't broken (yet)

**Author's Note:**

> Special huge thanks to shineyma for nagging me about this daily. I would not have completed it without her. <3

“Right,” he wheezes, clutching his gut. “Great idea, Will. Investigate the crazed screaming. That’s gonna go great.”

The guy doing the screaming has disappeared. Literally. Into thin air. Leaving Will to lick his wounds and wonder what else this planet’s gonna throw at him next. He’s just started to wonder where Mr. Screamy’s disappeared to (is Jemma safe in the tunnels?) when he reappears.

And then he’s gone.

Seriously, what the _hell_?

And then he’s back again, raising that plumber’s wrench of his like a club he’s gonna bring down on thin air - or not so thin depending on where he disappears to next. Seeing as there are only two other living (more or less) beings on this whole messed up planet, Will’s got a pretty good idea he doesn’t want that blow to land.

He runs, flat-out across the sand, and tackles him just as he brings the wrench down. Glass shatters and Jemma screams and Will’s knuckles scrape against hard metal beneath Mr. Screamy.

“Demon!” Yeah, that’s the guy’s favorite insult to throw at Will and this time it’s accompanied by a glancing blow to the head. Will rolls off him just as he dematerializes again, leaving Will in a mess of broken glass on a cold floor.

A voice he doesn’t recognize yells, “Simmons!” and Will’s up, turning and rushing to kiss her. It can’t last as long as he’d like (it _never_ lasts as long as he’d like; breathing’s a pain that way, but this time is especially short) and he pours all his fear and relief and apology that he left her in danger, even unknowingly, into it.

“Are you okay?” he asks when he pulls back - not far, just enough to let them both breathe. “Did he hurt you?” His hand slides into her hair and a lot of things happen at once: first, he realizes Jemma’s stiff as a board and staring at him wide-eyed; second, he feels her hair, too long and softer than it’s ever been in his fingers; and third, he hears the cocking of a gun to his right.

“Back away from her,” a steady voice says, “slowly.”

He does as ordered, but he doesn’t bother looking at whoever’s threatening him. His eyes are fixed on Jemma, on the fear shining bright in her wide eyes. He put that there, not Mr. Screamy, not the guy with the gun, _him_.

“Are you okay?” he asks again, his voice shaking slightly.

“Simmons?” gun guy asks and when Will finally turns his attention to him, he’s surprised to see it’s that Coulson guy from her videos.

She nods, the motion as shaky as Will’s voice. “I’m fine. He- he _saved_ me. I think.”

The gun lowers a hair.

There’s no time to be relieved about that or about Jemma being okay, because she’s barely got the words out before the whole room shudders and the lights go red.

Coulson shelters her before Will can reach her. “The plane’s going down.”

It might just be the lights, but Will thinks Jemma’s gone pale. Coulson’s gaze locks on him.

“If you try anything…” He lets the threat hang and Will lifts his hands, uncertain how to even begin to defend himself. “There are seats in the cargo bay. Hurry.” Coulson pulls Jemma along with him and, when they reach the seats along the wall, makes sure he’s sitting between her and Will. Which is good, really, Will doesn’t want to freak her out more, but it does have the unfortunate side effect of giving him a terrible crick in his neck from trying to see how she’s doing while they plummet out of the air.

And to think he missed flying.

When they hit the ground and it’s clear they’re not gonna be moving again anytime soon, Coulson’s the first one up. Fine with Will; he’s finally got a clear view of Jemma.

“Simmons?” Coulson asks.

“I’m fine, sir,” she says, but her eyes are still shut and her fingers are tight around the straps holding her to her seat. He knew she dreamed of falling more than was normal and he knew heights freaked her out, he’s just never seen her actually _fall_ before.

“Good. You’re good. Just stay there. Your friend and I are gonna have a little chat.” The gun’s back out. Great. And just in time for Will’s adrenaline to start fading. As it goes, he starts to feel sick. Gravity sick, if he had to guess. And maybe something to do with the air, he can’t be sure though. “Who are you?”

Will’s eyes are still on Jemma and he opens his mouth to answer but no sound comes out - except a laugh. She asked him the same thing when he had her stuck in the cage; back then his refusal to answer was because he didn’t want to feed his sickness, now it’s because he really doesn’t know what to say.

Jemma’s eyes snap open at the sound. She’s still scared, but it’s less about him. She even maybe smiles a little, that’s something.

“Did you do this?” Coulson presses.

“No,” Will says, turning his attention to him. “I don’t know what brought the plane down but it wasn’t me. I was just trying to stop … that guy.”

“What guy?”

“There was another man,” Jemma says then, finally unbuckling herself and standing. “He attacked me, smashed the holotable. He might have hit me if this- person hadn’t intervened.”

“Where did they come from? We were _in the air_.”

“He kept disappearing and reappearing,” Will cuts in. “The other guy. I tackled him when he reappeared because it looked like he was gonna-” He looks to Jemma and can’t finish.

“And then after they fought,” she picks up, “the other man disappeared after calling this one a demon. Which is just …” She rolls her eyes and Will grins; he knows from experience she’s got no patience for that kind of talk.

“Everyone okay down here?” a male voice calls from up above. The light from a flashlight waves through the air over their heads before settling on a set of stairs, giving them a view of the man at the top of them. He frowns at Will. “Who’s he?”

“We’re working on that,” Coulson says. “Everyone okay up there?”

“Yeah.”

“Get everyone in the briefing room.”

The man’s eyes linger on Will a moment before he tosses his flashlight down to Jemma and disappears.

“Sir,” she says, “I found something before the attack, I think-”

“Not yet,” Coulson says gently. That fatherly look he gives her disappears when he turns his attention back to Will. He gestures and Will knows he means for them to join “everyone” in the briefing room.

With some serious effort, he manages to get himself out of the seat and up the stairs. He can’t tell, what with the lights being out, but he thinks his vision might narrow a time or two on the way. His head’s swimming by the time they make the upper level and he practically falls against the table everyone’s gathered around in what he assumes is the briefing room.

Jemma’s hand lands on his arm.

“Simmons,” Coulson says tightly but Will’s not about to attack her, even if he was in any shape to.

“Are you hurt?” she asks. “You took a blow to the head, I should-”

He catches her hand - he didn’t _see_ it moving towards his head what with his eyes being about two inches from the tabletop, but he knows her well enough to know it’s there - and sets it on the table, soaking in the warmth of it beneath his palm. “I’m okay. Just a little earthsick.”

“I’m sorry,” someone - Will recognizes her as Skye when he glances up - says, “but _who_ is this guy?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Coulson says.

Everyone’s waiting for him but Will takes a few seconds to let himself really think about what’s going on. He’s _on Earth_ and Jemma’s here with all her friends - except Fitz, for some reason - and she doesn’t seem to have any idea who he is. He’s gonna be honest, that stings a little.

That’s also just the sort of thing It would pull. After fourteen years, if it finally caught him, it’d probably have a grand old time fucking with him - and the best way to do that is to take Jemma from him.

He braces his hands on the edge of the table to stand more or less straight so he can take a look around at all the waiting faces. “From where I’m standing,” he says slowly, “there are two options. One is that I’ve finally gone insane and this is all a hallucination.”

Jemma’s hand is on his arm again and he can’t help a smile. It’s not a _bad_ hallucination.

“Well,” says the guy who came out to check on Jemma and Coulson, “since I’m pretty sure we’re all real, how about you give us option number two?”

Will grins. Of course it’d be the guy who’s his biggest proof. He’s the only one here Will doesn’t recognize from Jemma’s videos, which is a big check mark in favor of this really happening.

“Or, it’s not 2015 yet,” he says, meeting Coulson’s eyes across the table.

Jemma’s hand goes still as stone and silence falls over the room for long seconds.

“Yessssssssssss,” Skye says suddenly. “I knew we were gonna get time travel eventually. How cool is the future? Please tell me this look you have going on isn’t the fashion.”

Will’s smile grows; he sees why Jemma loves her so much. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t set foot on Earth in fourteen years. I’ve been stranded on a desert planet since June 2001.”

That gets about the reactions he was expecting: lots of wide eyes, an “oh my God,” and Jemma’s hand leaves his arm to cover her mouth.

“The guy who attacked you,” he says to Jemma, figuring he’d better bring the conversation back around to that, “he was screaming near my camp. Just wandering around, yelling at … everything.” He tells them about the fight, about realizing the guy was attacking someone somewhere else, but he leaves out his worries over Jemma. “And you know the rest,” he says to Coulson.

“Was it this guy?” Skye asks, producing what looks like a bigger version of Jemma’s phone for him to look at.

“Yeah,” he says. The guy looks a lot saner in the employee ID photo, but it’s him.

“Tobias Ford,” Skye says, “he logged a lot of safety complaints with Hannah’s office.”

“So we know who he is,” the guy Will doesn’t recognize says, “but who the hell are you?”

“Will Daniels. I _was_ with NASA but I’m pretty sure at this point they’ve given me up for dead.”

Introductions are made all around and Will nearly loses it when he learns the one name he’s missing; Grant Ward isn’t someone Jemma talks about a lot, but it’s always after her very worst nightmares.

“And I’m Jemma Simmons and this-” she cuts off, looking around worriedly. “Where’s Fitz?”

Ah, so he _is_ here. Everyone tries to figure out who saw him last, but no one knows for certain.

“We have to-” Jemma starts.

“Hold it,” Coulson says. “Even if - and that’s a big if - Fitz is in danger, we still need to figure out what’s going on with Ford. Why is he disappearing between this world and that one? How did he get there at all? And why the hell is he traveling through _time_?”

Jemma still looks worried about Fitz, but she can’t help the eagerness that seeps into her voice when she talks science. “Well, I don’t know about the time travel,” she says, shooing Will an almost guilty look, “but I do know that that lab wasn’t completely honest about what they were experimenting with. It appears they were attempting to replicate the natural phenomena displayed in London a few weeks ago. They were trying to open a portal to another world; it looks like Ford got … caught in between.”

“He’s the one who’s been causing all this,” Skye says. “It’s not Hannah at all.”

Jemma gives Will a quick rundown of who Hannah is while the others argue over what to do next, but he barely hears it. Exhaustion’s creeping in and standing, even with the table’s support, is becoming an issue.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Jemma asks softly, stepping closer to him. “Fourteen years on another world is…”

He gives her a grin and hopes it doesn’t look too terrifying to a version of her that’s not used to him. “I’m back on Earth; trust me when I say it’s a good pain.”

Her brow wrinkles further but there’s no time for her to fuss. The decision’s been made. She’s going with Ward to hunt for Fitz and fix the power, Skye and May are gonna make sure Hannah’s secure, and Will’s gonna go with Coulson to his office. Jemma tries to argue against that - completely overshadowing his barely begun arguments about her going with Ward - and Will finds out why a few minutes later when he’s faced with more stairs.

“You gonna be okay?” Coulson asks from behind him. Arguably, he’s there to catch Will if he falls. In reality, he’s probably ready to shoot him if he tries anything.

“I’ll have to be, won’t I?”

Will survives, but he nearly cries in relief when he sees the cushy chairs waiting upstairs. He falls into one and closes his eyes, waiting for the plane to stop sloshing like the ocean around him. He can hear Coulson moving around, heading behind the desk and doing something related to the communications - that was their mission, right?

Will’s just about ready to try opening his eyes again when Coulson curses. “Nineteen-nineties technology at its best,” he says when Will takes a look. With only the flashlights to go on, it looks kind of like there’s an electrical panel where a painting used to be behind the desk, but the instruments are all dark. “You know anything about this?”

“I can try,” Will says, heaving himself up from the chair. “I’m not quite this refined though, more basic stuff, you know? I once built a grappling hook with a pressure launcher for Je-” He drops his head forward, focusing on navigating between the desk and the rolling chair behind it. “My dad and I built a telescope when I was a kid,” he says while he takes a closer look at the dark displays. “That’s about the best I can do.”

Coulson’s staring at him with this heavy gaze that reminds Will of picking up his prom date and spending a half hour waiting in silence with her stone-faced dad - and her dad’s shotgun.

He tries a few things, manages to get the panel to come back to life, but it’s still not working.

“You kissed Simmons,” Coulson says.

Yep, just like Julie Martinski’s dad and his shotgun.

“Yeah, that was a mistake.” He didn’t mean to kiss her. He meant to kiss _his_ Jemma, not this one who’s … who’s perfect and happy and everything he only gets to see when it shines through all the shit that hell planet likes to pile on top of her.

He slams the side of his fist against the wall. “In 2015,” he says, his eyes still on the useless displays, “you’re gonna find this rock, it’s big and it liquefies every so often-”

“You shouldn’t be telling me this,” Coulson says. There’s not a whole lot of conviction in his tone but any argument is enough to piss Will off. He has _no idea_ , none of them do.

“ _Yes_ ,” Will snaps, whirling to face him and he stands his ground even though the room rocks wildly in his vision. “I should. You _know_ I should. She talks about you the way she talks about her _dad_ so you know.” Coulson’s face goes carefully blank and Will barrels on before he can snap out of it to try stopping him again. “She called it ‘the monolith,’ said it came from some ship named the- the _Odyssey_ maybe? You’ve gotta keep her away from it - and destroy it. Blow it up, hurl it into the sun, I don’t care, just make sure it doesn’t take anyone again. _Especially_ her.”

Coulson’s just staring at him like Jemma’s _life_ isn’t on the line here and Will’s trying real hard not to grab the guy and shake him until he promises to protect her.

“There’s no way back,” he tries. “We found one once but … there’s no way now. And there’s something else there, something evil. I can’t-” He runs his hand through his hair. “I need her to be okay, all right?”

There’s nothing else to say, nothing else that won’t be violent threats or pathetic pleading - both of which he’s willing to resort to if need be - so he drops into the big chair behind him, doesn’t care that it’s Coulson’s. It rolls under his weight, all the way back into the wall. Will doesn’t try to stop it. “Whatever this is supposed to connect to,” he says, gesturing to the panel, “it’s not. Emergency power’s still there but the antenna’s gone.”

“Great,” Coulson mutters and replaces the painting, getting it just right before facing Will again. “You love her.” It’s not a question.

Will answers it anyway. “Yes.”

“And it’s just you and her, all alone out there?”

Will shifts in his seat, trying to ease his sore muscles. “And the monster that killed my team, yeah. So you see why you have to keep her from it.”

Coulson looks older - a  _lot_ older - but he’s thinking about it. That’s what matters.

Will doesn’t know what it is - maybe it’s just dumb luck, maybe it’s senses honed by fourteen years hiding from the boogeyman - but whatever it is, he notices the figure in the doorway before Coulson does. It’s Ford and his hand’s on the door and Will’s up and running, trying to stop him before he’s even thought about it.

He gets knocked down, rolls in cool sand and coughs it up as he comes back to his feet. “Shit,” he gasps. He’s back. And Ford’s gone again.

“Will!” Jemma’s voice echoes through the hills and for a second Will’s terrified because that son of a bitch Ward is supposed to be keeping her safe while they look for Fitz, but then he remembers that that Jemma never called him Will. That Jemma’s never gonna set foot on this planet _ever_ if he can help it.

She yells again and, at the same time, Will hears her faraway scream. When he turns in its direction, he sees Ford reappear and again he runs without thinking.

He hits a wall and hears Ward curse. Jemma yells. Ford screams. Something slams and everything goes black.

He’s still conscious, so that’s something, and he can hear Jemma breathing, trying to calm herself down. Someone’s yelling, pounding on metal. As if Will’s head didn’t hurt bad enough.

A light flicks on and Will sees Jemma holding the flashlight. Ward’s on the ground between them, knocked out cold.

“ _Jemma!_ ”

She scrambles to her feet to try the door. Locked tight. “Fitz! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine!” Fitz yells from outside. “What about you?”

“Fine.” She turns to take in the small space and Will settles himself a little more comfortably on the floor. No way he’s getting up anytime soon; he’s thinking the jumping between worlds is as bad as the being back on his system. “Ward’s out but there’s no sign of blood, and Mr. Daniels is here as well.”

A laugh bubbles up Will’s throat and he squashes it a little belatedly.

“Which one is he?” Fitz demands, sounding indignant.

“The good one,” Jemma says readily and that warms Will’s heart. She may not be his Jemma, but at least she knows he’s not gonna hurt her.

“Isn’t he supposed to be with Coulson?”

Jemma doesn’t answer, only raises an eyebrow in a way he knows too well.

“I was,” he says, smiling despite the circumstances. “Ford showed up and when I tried to stop him locking us in, I ended up back on the planet.”

She gasps in horror. It’s kinda sweet.

“He might need some help,” Will adds. “Any chance of getting this door open?”

Jemma and Fitz try a few more times, but it’s not budging.

“It’s jammed,” he says, “we need more muscle.”

Jemma looks expectantly to Will. He’s never been able to say no to her, so he tries climbing to his feet, only to overbalance and go right back down.

“I’m afraid we’ll need the others,” she says loudly. Fitz makes a noise like he wants to argue and she overrules him. “Ward needs medical attention I cannot provide from in here and if Ford is going to attack, there’s nothing you’ll be able to do for us from out there. Go, Fitz.”

“Fine, but I’ll be _right back_.”

Jemma waits a few seconds at the door before nodding to herself and moving to pull Ward into her lap. Will frowns over that. He doesn’t know the whole story there but on the rare occasions she’d actually talk about it, she called Ward a murderer, so he’s guessing it’s not a good one.

“He’s worried you’re going to hurt me,” she says softly while her fingertips brush at Ward’s hair.

“I wo-”

“I know,” she says quickly, smiling kindly at him. Her gaze falls slowly back to Ward. “I’m there, aren’t I? On the planet?”

Ice crawls through Will’s veins and he keeps his damn mouth shut.

“You kissed me.” She’s still looking at Ward but that shy smile is all for Will. “And you seemed … comfortable doing it, even after you saw my face. And you keep looking to me over all the others, even though, by all rights, you should be equally happy to see all of us as we’re all new people. And then of course there’s the _way_ you look at me…” She trails off and her eyes meet his.

He holds himself perfectly still, terrified he’ll give something away if he so much as breathes too heavily.

She takes in a deep breath, readying herself for whatever she’s gonna say next. “Are we-”

“Jemma!” Fitz is back. About damn time.

He’s brought Coulson too and the two of them get to work on the door. All the ruckus brings Ward back around and in no time the three of them have it open. Jemma helps Will up and there’s a question in her earnest stare that he refuses to answer. Because the answer doesn’t matter.

He shoots Coulson a look when he comes out into the hall and the man nods, just a little. He’s gonna do what it takes to save Jemma. _That’s_ all that matters.

And that May and that Hannah girl Ford’s apparently after are gone. She sent Skye to check on Coulson when they heard Will tackled Ford and now she’s gone and disappeared.

He thinks he might be getting used to the gravity because he’s actually keeping up with the others - or they’re just going extra slow after their last run-ins with Ford. Whatever. Jemma’s arm keeps brushing his while they walk so he’s calling it a win.

While they head deeper into the plane, Skye theorizes that maybe Ford  _isn’t_ after Hannah, he’s trying to help her. Blowing up buildings and getting her run out of town seems like a pretty weird way of expressing his feelings and Will says so. Skye looks about ready to argue when they finally reach the closet these retriever things of Fitz’s are in and something jumps out at them.

A couple of the others scream and Will’s got Jemma behind him. She’s clutching his threadbare shirt and-

“Fitz! This is no time for this!” she yells.

“Well how was I to know?” Fitz yells right back.

Will has no idea what’s going on but the dummy hanging out of the closet is definitely not attacking anyone. Ward punches it aside and grabs a box.

“Let’s go,” he orders and Coulson leads the way off the plane.

The retrievers are actually pretty cool the way they fly up and away, searching the woods for signs of human life. Coulson and Ward head into the plane again to load up on weapons and Will doesn’t miss the significant look the bastard throws Skye’s way before he leaves. He wants her to watch Will.

Which _probably_ wasn’t supposed to involve talking to him, but that doesn’t stop her from very casually wandering over to where he’s sitting against one of the ramp supports.

“So,” she says, her voice just a little too loud. If he had to guess, he’d say that’s because Jemma’s hovering a few yards away, trying to look busy doing absolutely nothing. (He knows because she likes to pretend she’s too busy working to do whatever he’s asked her to and then, once his back is turned, come up behind him to drag him to bed instead.) “Thinkin’ about space?” Skye asks.

“Bad luck, actually,” he says, voice pitched just as loud. Jemma’s figured out she’s on the planet too? Fine, he’ll tell her all about it. “I’m finally back on Earth and it’s night.”

“But the stars are cool, right?” Skye asks. “I mean, seeing our stars? That’s gotta be neat even if you can’t see the trees and stuff?”

“I’d rather see the sun. It doesn’t rise there.”

“Ever?” She sounds horrified.

“Ever,” he confirms. That’s not entirely true. Jemma says it’s going to soon, just a few days from now and he’s thinking of doing something stupid and heading into the No Fly Zone for that wine bottle to celebrate. But one day in fourteen years isn’t much.

Sure enough, Jemma’s shoulders stiffen. Good.

“Well,” Skye says carefully, “you’re here now so-”

“I’ve got them!” Fitz yells, effectively ending the conversation.

There’s a bit of a fight about who’s going and who’s staying. Skye wants to go even though she’s apparently untrained, Jemma and Fitz don’t want to be left out - or left alone on the Bus, Will wouldn’t blame them either way - and Ward keeps saying he can’t protect everyone from a guy who disappears into thin air. Will ends the argument by stealing the van.

“Well, I can’t walk too far,” he says when he pulls it up alongside them on the grass, “so wherever it is, we’re gonna have to drive.” He gets a few smiles - and a few frowns too - but the only one he cares about is Jemma’s.

They all pile in and Fitz gives directions and in no time at all they’re at an old barn. Once the engine cuts off, they can all hear the sounds of an argument - and a fight - inside. Will rushes out along with the others, but he needn’t have bothered. They’re all gathered in the broad doorway like they’re afraid to cross the threshold.

May’s inside - and Ford and some crying woman who’s probably Hannah.

Ford’s fading in and out and even though Will can’t hear what any of them are saying now the arguing’s died down, he can see on Ford’s face it’s goodbye.

“Wait!” he yells and rushes forward.

Ford reaches for Hannah in a clear move of defense. “Demon!” he snarls, lifting his wrench.

Will holds up his hands. “No. I’m just a guy like you, who was stranded somewhere.”

Ford gives him an assessing once-over and the wrench lowers. “Hell.”

“Yeah,” Will agrees. He inches forward. Ford’s getting thinner and thinner, barely visible against the shadows. There’s not much time. “But I wasn’t alone. I’ve gotta go back.”

“No!”

Will turns at the sound of Jemma’s voice. Coulson’s too slow, but May catches her before she can reach him and Ford.

“You can’t go back! You said- you said there was no _sun_.”

He smiles. It’s pathetic and half-hearted at best but it’s all he’s got. “I can’t just leave her.”

“You don’t even know that she’s still _there_!” Jemma snaps. “Things could have changed!” She looks like she’s gonna cry and he _hates_ it, hates that this might be the last expression he ever sees on her face.

“Can’t risk it,” he says, reaching blindly back for Ford. “I honestly hope I never see any of you again.”

Jemma looks like she’s gonna argue again but then Ford’s hand catches Will’s and the barn disappears.

 

 

Will drags in a breath. His heart is pounding and he can feel a headache around the edges of his brain and a warm hand is wrapping around his ribs.

“Shhhh,” Jemma soothes. “It’s all right. You’re on Earth.” She drags herself up onto his chest and presses kisses there.

“That wasn’t-” He swallows, takes another breath while his eyes adjust to the shadows. He’s in the Playground, in his quarters. “I was on the Bus,” he says slowly.

He feels her smile, lazy and warm, against his skin. “That’s good. Not that you had a nightmare of course, but that it was a new sort is promising.”

He pulls her more on top of him and slides his hand around the back of her head. Her hair’s soft. And short.

“Tobias Ford,” he says. “He was on the planet.”

Jemma freezes and slowly, very slowly, pulls herself to her knees beside him. “I was wondering if you’d ever remember that,” she says carefully. Her teeth tug at her lower lip. “What else do you remember?”

He reaches up, runs his thumb over her eyebrow where there isn’t any scar. “You. I put you in a cage.”

She tips her head. “Yes, I remember that part too.”

He shakes his head. “No, the other time. And you faked being sick to get out of it.”

She grins, delighted. “Really?”

He rubs his head where she hit him (didn’t hit him?). “I think you hit me harder than May did when she broke you out.”

She giggles. “So you remember both timelines?”

He frowns and concentrates. He remembers seeing her for the first time at the lakeside, watching her sew up her own leg, her determination that they would make it home, and her heartbreak when they didn’t. He also remembers seeing her and May and Trip wandering just east of the No Fly Zone, stopping her from going into it, locking her up to figure out if she was real, and getting his ass kicked when the others came for her. But they weren’t mad at him, didn’t even hurt him. They told him they’d come to _bring him home_.

“You didn’t really find the NASA files on my mission, did you?” he asks wryly. The question is teasing but the hand he slides under her ass isn’t. Her leg is unscarred, completely whole. A breath shudders out of him.

She shakes her head and lays down again next to him, in the curve of his arm. “We couldn’t find much, not enough to go on at all. But we found the _Iliad_.”

He twists his fingers in her hair and tugs gently at it. “I told Coulson to keep you away from the monolith.”

“And I told him I wasn’t going to abandon you there.” She presses a kiss to his chest. “I had to know.”

“If I was real?” he asks, confused. It’s not like  _she_ had to worry about some alien monster driving her crazy.

She tips her head back to look at him, catching his hand against the base of her skull. “If we were in love.”

Something warm expands in Will’s gut and he pulls her to him for a kiss. “We are.” 

 


End file.
